How Social Media Helped Cisco Shave $100,000+ Off a Product Launch
As early as 2008, networking giant Cisco was well along in its social media evolution. Back then you could find the company on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Yet something was missing – the hard business case for social media. Like most companies, Cisco knew it was benefiting from social media, but it couldn’t prove it.
The launch of a new router using only social media would provide the proof Cisco’s marketers were seeking.
How Microsoft Xbox Uses Twitter to Reduce Support Costs
For Microsoft’s Xbox support team, there’s no such thing as unwanted messages on Twitter – no matter how vulgar they may be.
So why is a $58 billion company spending time listening to off-color tweets?
Because “foul-mouthed tweens” just might be the first tip-off of a major service outage. Before any calls or emails come in, the support team can catch a tweet and get technical folks on the task.
This article reveals how the Xbox team relies on Twitter to reduce support costs.
Social Media Smackdown: WWE Headlocks Social Media
Think you know what World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is all about? You might be surprised to read about WWE’s emerging social media story.
But first, it’s easy to pigeonhole WWE as fringe cable channel with a small group of die-hard fans, but you likely don’t know all the facts…
WWE.com outperformed ABC.com, CBS.com, NBC.com, NASCAR.com, PerezHilton.com, NHL.com and UFC.com. More people attended Wrestlemania XXVI than the Super Bowl, held in the same stadium.
“WWE” ranked #3 for most searches on Yahoo! in 2009, behind only Michael Jackson and Twilight. (As I write this, WWE is the top-trending search term on Yahoo!) And WWE.com has more than 14 million average monthly unique visitors worldwide.
More significantly, WWE’s own social networking site has 610,000 registered users who participate in forums, comment on blogs, and consume the millions of photos and videos that WWE updates continuously.
How Social Media Saved Lake Arrowhead When City Ad Budgets Ran Dry
Picturesque Lake Arrowhead, just 90 miles east of Los Angeles, has long been a peaceful refuge for celebrities, film executives and families. More than 120 movie studios have filmed here and the area hosts several big-draw events every year.
Yet the lake community does NOT have a rock-star budget.
With a small percentage of county tax dollars, the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce must support two visitor centers, multiple events and promotion for the area.
How LIVESTRONG Raised Millions to Fight Cancer Using Social Media
In 2004, a little yellow bracelet changed the cancer cause.
The ubiquitous LIVESTRONG gel wristband, which sold for $1, adorned the wrists of cancer survivors, supporters and celebrities while uniting people around the world in the fight against the disease. If you haven’t worn one, you probably know someone who has.
Simple and inexpensive, the bands created a community that crossed political, geographic, ethnic and age lines. And they brought in an estimated $70 million for the charity.
How One Man Used Social Media to Raise $91,000 for Charity
The Big 4-0. For most, turning 40 inspires something big.
For Danny Brown, it wasn’t a sports car, Vegas trip or marathon run. He was inspired to set a different challenge for himself—to bring people together and raise money for worthy causes. And the response was very unexpected…
To celebrate his 40th, Brown and his wife spent a few days at Niagara Falls. Taking a break at a local café, they noticed an elderly woman come in by herself and order ice cream.
Brown wondered about her story.
After he and his wife headed home, Brown couldn’t stop thinking about the lonely-looking woman in the café—and regretted not talking with her.
How IBM Uses Social Media to Spur Employee Innovation
“Be yourself.” It’s one of the rules of social media. If you’re blogging, tweeting or Facebooking for business, be real—or you won’t be followed.
Yet, how do you pull off “authentic” while maintaining the company brand message?
It’s tough enough for a small business. What if you’re #2 on Business Week’s best global brands list, with nearly 400,000 employees across 170 countries?
At IBM, it’s about losing control.
“We don’t have a corporate blog or a corporate Twitter ID because we want the ‘IBMers’ in aggregate to be the corporate blog and the corporate Twitter ID,” says Adam Christensen, social media communications at IBM Corporation.
Chicago Pizza Guy Creates Social Media ‘Domino’ Effect
When it comes to social media, it takes a lot to impress Amy Korin.
Her resume includes digital strategy for global companies like Procter & Gamble, General Motors, Sun Microsystems and Zappos.
But her local Domino’s Pizza joint left her “completely shocked.”
On a rainy Sunday night, her Domino’s Pizza order took an hour to arrive and then was the wrong pizza. She turned to Twitter to vent: “hardly any room for human error, but still a mistake.”
What followed went way beyond the mea culpa tweet increasingly more common in business today.
Fun Social Media Promos Feed Souplantation Customer Frenzy
Imagine marveling at Peru’s Machu Picchu ruins, and a guy nearby asks if you’ll take his picture. But it’s not just him; he’s proudly holding a paper cutout of a smiling tomato.
What, exactly, inspired this traveler to carry a cartoon tomato to one of the wonders of the world?
In a word, fun.
He’s just one of nearly 140 people who vacationed with the tomato, named “Sweetie.” These fans of the restaurant Souplantation, or Sweet Tomatoes in some markets, were enthusiastically participating in the chain’s latest social media promotion, “Where’s Sweetie?”
It Pays to Listen: Avaya’s $250K Twitter Sale
Avaya can hear you. Maybe you just praised the communications giant online – or took its name in vain. Whatever you said, it’s on the company’s radar.
At a time when businesses are using social media to promote content and start discussions, Avaya has found that listening trumps talking.
“We’re listening to social media and responding,” said Paul Dunay, Avaya’s social media ringleader, who is global managing director of services and social media marketing.
“There is no Tweet that goes unturned. No forum post that goes unturned where our name is mentioned.”
What began as a way to engage and support customers has evolved beyond even Avaya’s expectations. And if Avaya ever doubted its investment in social media, those concerns are now put to rest.
A recent quarter-million–dollar sale, which began on Twitter, soundly answered that question.
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